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Ouroboros Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
...were to + verb
Hi everyone!
Lately, I've encountered the following sentence:
'These pressures were to lead to the signing of the Berne Convention in 1886'.
Could someone explain to me, whether it would have significantly different meaning reformulated as:
'These pressures led to the signing of the Berne Convention'?
Thanks in advance.
Lately, I've encountered the following sentence:
'These pressures were to lead to the signing of the Berne Convention in 1886'.
Could someone explain to me, whether it would have significantly different meaning reformulated as:
'These pressures led to the signing of the Berne Convention'?
Thanks in advance.
Top answer
There's not much difference between the two sentences. The first, to me, does put more emphasis on the purpose of the pressures though. Possibly "were" could have been followed by a verb but that's optional, I think for instance, one might say This measure was (taken) to alleviate the situation.
- There's not much difference between the two sentences.
- The first, to me, does put more emphasis on the purpose of the pressures though.
- Possibly "were" could have been followed by a verb but that's optional, I think for instance, one might say This measure was (taken) to alleviate the situation.
- ("taken" is optional; focus on the measure (taken to alleviate the situation) or just This measure alleviated the situation.
- (focus on the alleviation of the situationm, which resulted because of the measure taken)
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3 Answers
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There's not much difference between the two sentences. The first, to me, does put more emphasis on the purpose of the pressures though.
Possibly "were" could have been followed by a verb but that's optional, I think
for instance, one might say
This measure was (taken) to alleviate the situation. ("taken" is optional; focus on the measure (taken to alleviate the situatio
Possibly "were" could have been followed by a verb but that's optional, I think
for instance, one might say
This measure was (taken) to alleviate the situation. ("taken" is optional; focus on the measure (taken to alleviate the situatio
00
Hi,
Lately, I've encountered the following sentence:
'These pressures were to lead to the signing of the Berne Convention in 1886'.
Could someone explain to me, whether it would have significantly different meaning reformulated as:
'These pressures led to the signing of the Berne Convention'?
Lately, I've encountered the following sentence:
'These pressures were to lead to the signing of the Berne Convention in 1886'.
Could someone explain to me, whether it would have significantly different meaning reformulated as:
'These pressures led to the signing of the Berne Convention'?
00
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